I only caught the last 40+ minutes. Had a softball double header last night that ran late. I'd originally planned to watch the first half, but after getting home and seeing the pitch with my wife watching I decided that would be a waste of time.
@Chongo94 my first thought was that the pitch was in worse shape than it was in Trinidad when we famously and improbably didn't qualify. Most of the countries in our region are so destitute this is an unfortunate norm for competitive road games. If more top European players had to play competitively in CONCACAF I bet a lot of them wouldn't do it to protect their bodies for their clubs. Eventually, as our kids become more important to their huge European sides, I won't be shocked if we start seeing some key guys pass on these types of matches in the future. Add in the ridiculous officiating (Arriola was an excessively harsh red, Adams probably should have been a red, missed hand ball in the box, generally poor handling of a hotly contested match, etc.), no VAR b/c most countries are too poor to support it, and the octagon nature of a CONCACAF road fixture and you've got a really nasty night for some very expensive players.
The only thing I liked better than seeing Arriola go off was Musah take over for large spurts in the 2nd half. To be able to dribble through lines like that with such conviction on a perfect pitch is impressive. To do it on that pig slop, in those conditions, with guys trying to hack his feet off during the entire slalom run just blows my mind. It takes extraordinary vision, speed, touch, and balance to do that in perfect conditions. We've seen flashes from him like that at previous times, but not as sustained as it was last night and certainly in better conditions. He really took over the game by himself. Nobody else on the pitch was anywhere near his level. That excites me a lot.
Also, as disappointed as I was that Morris scored that one (agree with you completely
@Moose Stuff ; I was shouting at the TV when Berhalter sent him on for Weah and still think it was a dumb move), I was more impressed with the ball in from Luca to create that chance. He was the 2nd best player on the pitch after he came on. The more I see of him the more I like him. Our central midfield is becoming very deep and very talented. If Tillman continues to develop in that role and Aaronson gets squeezed off of the wings b/c of Pulisic, Reyna, and Weah we could realistically have 5 guys competing for the 2 spots occupied by McKennie and Musah. Who has that much quality depth in the center of the park?
I wish there was another window this summer to get some competitive matches in, but between corona darning up the fixture list for the last 2 years for both club and international competitions and the decision by a corrupt FIFA to host the WC in a darning desert necessitating a move to the winter it would be stupid to try to squeeze more games in. These players need a longer break than they're going to get as it is.